Artist Ted Armstrong lives a solitary and eccentric life. The survivor of child abuse disguised as religion, Ted has cut himself off from the world.

Then Ted meets Anderson Taylor, and it’s like being struck by lightning.

Anderson is a cardiac surgeon whose passion for his work has consumed him. He fears he’ll never find a partner—until he sets eyes on Ted. It’s happening fast, but both men know what they feel is right.

Confronted with an angry preacher, a scandal, and an act of God that threatens to destroy everything, their relationship will face its first true test.

“He was scared.“Grandma, what’s wrong?”“Thunderstorm, baby. Hang on,” she said to him, and then to his mother, whom he just spotted to their left, “Where’s the car?”“At the front of the lot. We were one of the first ones here this morning,” Ann said as she worked to keep up in her flip-flops.On the water, he saw his yellow bucket floating bottom down. It was spinning hypnotically, but it was when Anderson looked skyward he found himself becoming terrified. Above the lake, the sky had turned a sickly green. The clouds directly above it and moving in closer were swirling in a tight formation with what looked like a big black eye staring down at them.“Grandma! What’s that?” Anderson exclaimed pointing skyward. She stopped and turned to look.”“Oh, my God,” she breathed, mostly to herself. Anderson felt panic begin to set it.Someone shouted close to them, “Jesus Christ! It’s a tornado!”

Interview

Interview Prompts by Lily G Blunt

The event that altered the course of your life…

Receiving my first contract for Timber Manor and then one for Objects in the Rearview Mirror.

The prized possession you value above all others…

My life at one point consisted of garbage bags. That’s how I moved around. I had one suit case and a lot of trash bags. In those black, hefty, pauper’s luggage I carried my world around in the back of a four banger, I purchased before I left the Army.

Yet, I had one other thing. One big thing that I had no idea what I would do with. And that was this long cardboard tube, at least four feet tall, that I toted around with me.

In that tube was a rolled up four-foot long piece of art someone purchased for me while we were in the middle east together. It’s this cheap, mass produced, yet stunning portrait of an Egyptian scene that I absolutely adore, mostly for sentimental reasons.

Now that I no longer live like a BedouinTribesman,am happily married, and getting fatter by the day (because that’s what happiness does)…It’s now hanging on my wall.

The day is done by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – this one makes me cry.

The song that means the most to you…

I will give you a playlist of the songs that mean the most to me:

Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen

Again, Today by Brandi Carlile

Lightning Flashes by Live

Proud Mary by Tina Turner

Who Knew by P!nk

Bed of Roses by Bon Jovi

How Great Thou Art in a four-part harmony if you want to see me cry.

Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn

Right to be Wrong by Joss Stone

All of Motown – well, most of it, anyway.

Objects in the Rear View Mirror by Meatloaf

Sweet Child o’ Mine Guns and Roses

TLC’s entire discography especially Fanmail

The Phantom of the Opera Soundtrack

Who Wants to Live Forever - Queen

Habanera from Carmen

Actually, this list keeps going into perpetuity...

The pet hate that makes your hackles rise…

Piracy. Don’t be a dick. It isn’t yours. You don’t have a right to it. Exposure as a medical term kills people and spreading around people’s work kills their career.

I often wish I could pull someone with me through the creative process so they can see what all goes into writing a book. The amount of money spent on promotion, all of that. They’d quit pirating.

The piece of wisdom you would pass onto a child…

You are enough. You are more than enough. You won’t understand that now – but keep it in the back of your head.

The character you enjoyed writing the most…

I like writing the ghost scenes from three of my previous works. It was fun to get into the head of those kinds of beings. Whether it was ‘IT’ from Timber Manor, The young man from Objects, or The ghost from Still Waters. In my current novel, When Heaven Strikes, the character I most enjoyed was Ted.

The book you enjoyed planning/writing the most…

The book I most enjoyed writing was my very first novel, The Haunting of Timber Manor. I remember being excited as the story began to come together. I wrote some of it on the computer, but the most of it was written free hand, in a notebook, and later transcribed onto a word document.

I remember reading scenes to my husband, I remember sitting for hours scratching out word after word, scribbling it out, rewriting it to make better sense in my head, and then moving it over to the computer.

It was also the very first book published and the feeling of seeing a ‘congratulations’ letter in your inbox along with an advance check and contract – nothing like it.

Thank you for answering these interview prompts.

Book Trailer

Meet the Author

F.E.Feeley Jr. is a poet and the author of six published works - four full length novels, two short stories featured in anthologies, and a good deal of poetry.

Married to the love of his life, John, he came to the writing world about four years ago where he fell in love, again, with the written word.